The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-26
THE SECOND COMING.


than that Jesus proclaimed his coming
again as an event that was very soon to
occur. When he first commissioned
his disciples to go and preach his COS
pei, and gave them power over unclean
spirits, he said to them, ''Verily say
unto you, ye shall not have gone over
the cities Of Israel till the Son of man
be come" Matt. K. 23) When teach
ing his disciples as to the character of
the Christ life-the self-denial and
truth-seeking that it implies, and the
comparatively profitless results of all
other seeking and gain-he adds, For
the son of man shall come in the glory
of his Father with his angels; and then
he shall reward every man according to
his works. Verify l say unto you,
there &c some standing here, which
shall not taste Of death, till they see the
son Of man coming in his kingdom
Matt. xvi. 81, 2S.)
His kingdom was not a far-off affair.
1t was imminent. 1t was a spiritual
kingdom, not a material one. He was
here engaged in preaching and teaching
to prepare men for this kingdom, in or
der that the world might have relig-
ion of life in the spirit, of life in God,
and that this life might be manifested
through an activity of love to God and
man. To complete his mission ne was
to come in the spirit after he passed
from the flesh, that he might prove the
divinity of his calling, and the reality
OF the heavenly world, and so move and
control, by divine power operating on
and through the powers of this world,
as TO abolish the materialistic religion
Of formality and outward authority
that characterized the existing age, and
bring men, without regard to nation or
sect, or prescribed rule, into commun-
ion with heaven and under the con-
scious rule of the divine Spirit within
them. Thus he was to come again !;
and he assured his disciples that he
would thus come again very soon. He
even declared that some of those pres
ent, while he was speaking, would see
him thus come, for he knew that some
of them were capable, to degree, of
beholding spiritual realities; and this
capability was proved, only week af-
ter, when three Of them saw Moses and
Elias communing with their Master on
the mountain; and thus was indicated
to them, as they afterward understood,
the power of his coming and majesty.
Again, as his disciples asked when
the temple should be destroyed, &C
cording to his prediction, and what
should be the sign of his coming, and
the end Of the existing age, after
having warned them of the evils that
were to come on the people, he declares
that 1.-The sun shall be darkened, and
the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heaven shall be shaken
and then shall appear the sign of the
Son of man in heaven; and then shall
all the tribes of the land mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory. Verify, I say
unto you, this generation shall not pass
till all these things be fulfilled" Matt.
xiv. 20, 34)
The poetic language in which Jesus
foretold his spiritual coming, has been
literalized by men; and then through
strange straits in exegesis, the attempt
has been made to show that he was pre-
dieting an event still no,o in the future,
notwithstanding his emphatic declara-
ton that it should occur before the gen
Grafton then living would pass away,
and before the death of certain ones
who heard him speak. The fact is, he
came, as he said he would come, and
when he said he would come, abolish
ing the old material dispensation, and
establishing the new and spiritual age,
in which men truly worship in spirit,
without regard to time or place, or
form, or outward authority; and in
this spiritual order he reigns, and will
reign till all men shall become spirit
ually alive, or alive in Christ.